The fitting is accomplished by means of a fitting unit with which the cable ends may be introduced into cells of the connector housing to be fitted. Such fitting devices are frequently downstream of fabrication systems. The fitting device could also be a component of a fabrication system, however. A fabrication system may comprise, for example, a stripping station for cutting and stripping the electrical cable, crimping stations for adding crimp contacts to the stripped cable ends, and, where necessary, socket stations. For high-value electrical connectors, contacts in the form of pins or sleeves that may be added to the stripped cable ends using appropriate processing stations may be used instead of crimp contacts.
Sealing mats seal connector housings against dust, moisture, and water, and are used, for example, in the aircraft industry. Mil-C-26500 type connectors that have connectors equipped with connector housings provided with sealing mats are representative of this type of connector. A connector housing provided with sealing mats that is for producing electrical connectors is also illustrated and described in GB 1 371 916 A, for example.
Also known from the aforesaid GB 1 371 916 A is a manual tool for fitting a connector housing provided with a sealing mat to prefabricated cable ends. The cable ends have contacts, embodied as pins, that together with the cable are placed into the tool and then pushed through the cable through-holes into the sealing mat by means of the tool. The contact in the connector housing is locked using a collar arranged on the pin, whereupon the manual tool may be withdrawn again.
Fitting devices that permit mass production are also known and commonly used. Connector housings having a plurality of cells and small cell intervals may be fitted to prefabricated cable ends using these fitting devices in an automated fitting process. EP 2 317 613 A1 depicts a fitting device having a cable gripper that has two gripping jaws. For fitting connector housings provided with sealing mats, the cable gripper grips the cable near the contact and, in a number of steps, pushes the cable into the sealing mat, wherein the cable gripper moves back a small distance each time and then re-grips the cable further back. In practice it has been found that this “regripping process” is not suitable for certain types of cables. This is particularly true when using thin cables that are difficult to handle because they can break during the fitting process.
EP 650 232 B1 depicts another fitting device. The generically comparable fitting tool has a fitting unit with a cable gripper on which an insertion element is arranged. The cable gripper with the insertion element is constructed in two parts and may be opened into two halves using a pivot motion. In the closed position, the cable gripper grips the cable end with the contact embodied as a connector pin. The cable end held in this way is now introduced into the connector housing, wherein the insertion element is conducted through the cable through-hole of the sealing mat. The seal may be excessively stressed or even damaged when the insertion element penetrates the cable through-hole opening, so that the sealing performance of the connector housing may be significantly weakened, especially for thinner cables. Another drawback of the devices is that the fitting unit is not very suitable for working with cables having different diameters.